This invention relates to the fabrication and distribution of trusses. Particularly, this invention relates to the automated fabrication of trusses.
Trusses (e.g., roof trusses) are often used to distribute the weight of a structure (e.g., a roof) to a different structure (e.g., one or more walls). Trusses are used, for example, in roofs, bridges, bi-planes, and towers. Particular configurations of roof trusses include, for example, Pratt, Warren, Fink, Bobtail, Double W, Fan, Flat Top, Scissors, Raised Tie, Inverted, Extended Tie, and Howe truss configurations.
Traditional trusses are manually fabricated at truss factories. Manual construction of trusses is expensive and time-consuming. It is therefore desirable to develop truss fabrication systems and methods that can fabricate a truss at a lower cost and at a faster speed.
Completed trusses are then traditionally moved, by truck, to specific build sites. Because a large amount of open-space is present in a completed truss, only about 10% of a truck is actually filled by the truss. In this manner, roughly 90% of the load of a traditional truss-carrying truck is air. It is therefore desirable to improve the method of distributing trusses to build sites and construct distribution systems for the same.